Long Live Empathy

A few weeks ago...on the internet...found a piece someone had written...recommending
some of the songs i've written on Earth/The Environment. This writer was very complimentary...but she said she had one "quibble" about the "alcoholism" mentioned in a couple of my songs...a "quibble" which seemed to infer that she might think that this man writes good songs about the Earth...but he seems to have this problem with alcohol ...not so good. The truth...of course...is simply...that I don't drink alcohol. I'd written and recorded two song about characters in the songs...who had such a problem...because I wouldn't have been doing my job as an artist...if I'd written about several aspects of a certain sector of society and their lives...but pretended that this problem doesn't come into their lives. In a way...the woman's "quibble" may have been a compliment...because what I wrote in these two songs...was to her...so "believeable". What I'm getting to here...is that...a songwriter...as I see it...has to have sensitivity and loads of empathy for who or what he is writing about. By bringing your empathy to what you write about...you always
run the risk...of having people believe you are writing about yourself...at times when you are not...when what is happening...is that you're totally immersed in the subject at hand...and that's what you're writing about. Long live empathy...sometimes in short supply in our world.
............Quester.